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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23174386">the grounding of a foot uncompromising</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flowerparrish/pseuds/Flowerparrish'>Flowerparrish</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the fire that ignites [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ficlet, Gen, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha Romanov POV, Third Person POV, Vampire AU, Vampire!Natasha Romanov, Vampire!Steve Rogers, Witch!Clint Barton, urban fantasy au</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:47:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>511</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23174386</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flowerparrish/pseuds/Flowerparrish</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha never knows what to expect when she gets a phone call from Clint.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clint Barton &amp; Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers &amp; Natasha Romanov, background Clint Barton/Steve Rogers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the fire that ignites [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665919</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Natasha Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the grounding of a foot uncompromising</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A Nat POV and a missing piece to accompany It's Not the Waking, It's the Rising. Definitely read that first, or else this might not make a lot of sense. </p>
<p>Bingo Square: Urban Fantasy AU</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Natasha never knows what to expect when she gets a phone call from Clint.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She has only known the man for a handful of years; a negligible amount of time, considering how long she has been alive. But in those few years, he has made… <em>quite </em>the impression.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What now?” she snaps into the phone, because it doesn’t do to let mortals get too comfortable, too close. Clint may live longer than the average human, yes, thanks to the magic singing in his veins—but he’s no vampire, and to Natasha, that makes all the difference.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She listens to his problem. She sighs. She says, “I am not looking for a protégé, Clinton.” And even as she says it, she knows that feeble protests aside, she is going to say yes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Fine,” she says after a few minutes, cutting off his rambling pleas. “I’ll be by to get him in under an hour. Don’t die until then.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Steve is… unexpected.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You <em>have </em>to feed,” Natasha tells him, firm but not cruel. It is simply a fact. “You will feed, or you will die.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Natasha hands him a mug filled with microwaved blood, the thick smell of metal in the air. “Drink it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Steve stubbornly sets it aside, and Natasha regrets, for potentially the first time, that she wasn’t the one to sire him, because then her orders would carry more <em>weight. </em>(It won’t be the last time she regrets this, either.)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Steven. I am not going to let you die, because I am not going to allow you to make me be the one to go back to Clint and tell him that you starved yourself to death. I will not do it.” She can see the guilt on his face, weakening his resolve, and she’s so glad she knows newborn vampires as well as she does, because otherwise this would be impossible. “Drink. The. Blood.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Steve picks up the mug, holding it up, and she can see his nostrils flare as the scent wafts over him. His fangs elongate, but he still. Isn’t. Drinking.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It is from a blood bag,” she tells him. “No one was hurt in acquiring this. It is from my emergency stash. Please drink it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He studies her, apparently trying to decide if she’s trustworthy or not. She stares back impassively.<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>Finally, he drinks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Good,” she says, because she believes in encouraging the behavior you want to reinforce. “Thank you, Steven.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>They leave the city that Clint lives in. Steve tries to protest, and Natasha remains unconvinced.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You are fixated on him,” she tells Steve. “You sought him out even when it was dangerous, and I cannot trust you not to do that again. You should not be around him until you learn control. I know you do not value your own safety, but do you hold his in such low regard as well?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The words may be cruel, but they are also effective. The fight goes out of Steve, and he follows her when they board a train to a city a few hours south.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
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